The Russians Attempted To Land On The Moon This Weekend For The First Time Since 1976 And It Did Not Go Well

Source - Russia's first mission to the moon in 5 decades has ended in failure, as their Luna-25 spacecraft crashed into the surface on approach.

The unmanned vessel, which launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome earlier this month, crashed on the moon's surface Saturday. Not much is known about the cause of the failure, but officials called it an "abnormal situation."

The launch marked Russia's first attempt to approach the moon since 1976 ... the goal was to attempt a landing near the moon's south pole.

The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, said they lost contact with the craft Saturday afternoon stating, "spacecraft entered an unplanned orbit and ceased to exist after colliding with the surface of the Moon."

All additional efforts to make contact have since failed. 

"Ceased to exist after colliding with the moon." In other words, crashed. Crashed so bad that it literally disintegrated when it hit the moon's surface. At least that's how I interpret it. Which brings me to my main point...why? Why are we/them/anyone still trying to get to the moon? Why do we care? What could possibly be up there that would benefit us down here? Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that they crashed, but space exploration in general seems like a gigantic waste of time and money. For example, it's estimated that NASA spends roughly 2 to 4 BILLION dollars per launch. Last year they successfully launched 180 rockets - you do the math. 

Regardless, the USA still holds the record for most moon landings so suck it, Vlad. We've also got Buzz Aldrin so there's always that...

I'm sure Chief has an answer for why going into space is critical for the human race but again, I just don't see it. Whatever. That's all I have for this one. Thanks for reading.